The inner workings of the White House

Truly, truly, the dumbest headline evah:

As All Washington Guessed, Bush Zeroed In on His Choice

Now, Elizabeth Bumiller doesn't write her own headlines, so she can't be blamed for that. But then again, the typical inanity of her story befits so lame a title.

Mr. Bush's announcement, in unusual live prime-time remarks on Tuesday night from the Cross Hall of the White House, ended one of the most bizarre and suspenseful days in the capital in recent memory. Rumors raced from Capitol Hill to television talking heads to the Internet to advocacy groups and back, and the name of the president's supposed nominee changed minute by minute. Yet the close-mouthed Bush White House kept secret until the end the most sought-after piece of information this summer.

She considers, for a moment, that such a quick decision -- formerly expected to take weeks -- had something to do with Rove, Karl. But she's quickly disabused of that notion by Dan Bartlett.

Both Republicans and Democrats said that the speeded-up timing - administration officials had at one point told reporters to expect an announcement in the last week of July - would have the effect of pushing news of Karl Rove and the federal investigation into who leaked the name of a C.I.A. officer off the front pages, at least for a time. But in a briefing to reporters shortly before Mr. Bush's announcement, Mr. Bartlett insisted that the president's timing had nothing to do with Mr. Rove and everything to do with giving the Senate adequate time before its recess next week to meet Judge Roberts and deal with the enormous amount of paperwork and logistics such a nomination requires.

"This was driven by that time clock," Mr. Bartlett said.

Apparently, someone's taken pity on Scottie McClellan and he doesn't have to talk to reporters anyway. Actually, I'm a little amazed that Bartlett didn't go by his usual moniker, "a source close to the president."